Hello everyone!
I am, once again, back with yet another Hermione Moon book - or should I say yet another FANTASTIC Hermione Moon book.
Because I'm loving this series. I really am.
To bits and beyond, because COME ON. Arthur and Gwen? How could you NOT love them??
If you haven't been paying attention to this blog, I'm sure you may have noticed the books as they were being published. And if not, well, this is an ideal chance to catch up, since we're headed into some pretty interesting territory now!
You thought this was going to be an easygoing, cozy witch mystery, did you?
I did too.
And then Hermione Moon went and turned everything on its head with this last book she just released, which I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of.
So be sure to pay attention, because A Knight to Remember is a book you can't afford to miss!
I'll be linking the other magic-inspired books down below at the bottom of the post, and specifically the two previous ones in this series, One Dark and Stormy Knight and A Knight on the Town, as well as the prequel, Every Dog Has His Day, so you can catch up if you haven't read any of them before, or also if you need just a bit of a refresher before diving into this one.
VERY briefly, however: Gwen Young owns and runs the Avalon Café in Glastonbury, which is part of the Arthurian experience, and she's shocked to the core to find that the suit of armour which has been in her shop for years actually houses a soul-stone, a ruby, which is tied to none other than the legendary King Arthur.
And because she's a good person, she has the ruby made into a ring to release Arthur from the armour and have him beside her in the flesh, which then translates into a slow courtship for the two of them as Arthur tells her she's the reincarnation of his wife, Guinevere.
Also, because nothing is ever quite as simple, the pair of them and their Labradoodle Merlin (a reincarnation of the bard Taliesin who happens to be Arthur's BFF) then proceed to investigate murders that occur in their sleepy little town, and all of them are connected to a coven called Morgana's Sisters.
Yes, THAT Morgana, the sister of Arthur.
This is where we jump into A Knight to Remember.
Gwen and Arthur are going strong, but here's the thing: when they initially kindled (or re-kindled) their relationship, Gwen asked Arthur to take it slow because she didn't QUITE buy into the idea that she was Guinevere. Arthur, being a gentleman, agreed, and now he's basically going at what she'd call a glacial pace, and Gwen takes a moment or two in this book to lament to her best friend Immi about it (Immi being slightly faster as she and Christian seem to be taking their relationship at a more natural pace for the two of them).
But this is just the start, because it soon becomes apparent that it isn't solely Arthur's choice.
Actually, considering Gwen gets a vision about a woman being pushed off a cliff, and she's thinking about Arthur's downfall, one could say that it has nothing to do with Arthur at all and everything to do with everyone else.
Especially once her aunt Beatrix mentions that one of her art class students hasn't been seen since the time of Gwen's vision, and she'd been sort of obsessed with the King Arthur myth, incorporating it everywhere into her art, making it clear something more might be going on.
Arthur and Gwen head off to meet the missing person's husband, who turns out to be a sullen, grumpy individual but who also doesn't look all that good - and while they manage to uncover a sketchbook that looks important, featuring three drawings of what seem to be real-life locations, they later learn that the husband died a little after they left him there.
Things turn even worse when it's revealed that the victim's best friend ALSO lands in the hospital for poisoning, with antifreeze.
She didn't do it on purpose, either, since the same person poisoned both her AND the husband, and that would be the original victim, because she was 'paving the way' for the romance she had going on the side with another guy.
Oh and also, she was part of Morgana's Sisters, just like her best friend.
Not only that, but in this book, we learn that it's a much bigger coven than just a local congregation, spanning the country, having Elders, and apparently there can be male members as well.
And they've all taken the Arthur versus Morgana legend to the extreme, pitting themselves against Arthur just like Morgana supposedly was, which is something that we haven't been given a lot of information about yet, actually. From what we know SO FAR, Arthur and Morgana were close as siblings would be, and friends, and she was the one who promised to heal his body after transferring his soul to the ruby, but something went wrong somewhere along the way which we haven't been told yet.
I'm banking on this part of the myth also being debunked by the author, as everything else seems to have been more grounded in realism, since I'm a bit tired of always seeing Morgana go against Arthur. Why? Why would a sister do that to her brother? Either way though, we should be getting some answers in future books, and I'm looking forward to those!
But in the meantime, even as the investigation unfolds with Immi taking point again, and even though we get a lovely scene of a double date with Immi, Christian, Arthur and Gwen (in which Arthur explains some more of his previous life and who was king, how he died, how the Saxons basically went one against the other really, etc.), the magical front is what we have to focus on.
Because remember the sketchbook with the locations? And how Arthur seems to be off his game?
Well that's because a spell has been put in place to locate him and tie him down, and for that, Calling Stones had to be placed, and the three locations in the sketchbook are the key.
Gwen, Arthur and Merlin naturally hit the road to discover them and destroy the stones - and the first one turns out to be the convent Guinevere retired to after Arthur's death.
It's also the first place where Gwen feels her ancestor through the layers of time and realizes they are, actually, one in the same - both of them love Arthur with their entire being and their love has not only survived through the ages, but seems to be deeply woven into the places they used to frequent.
She uses the power of that love to destroy the stone at the convent, and after that they visit the Roman fort which was their home for most of their adult life, and where Arthur and Guinevere got married.
This is where we get the first inkling someone else is shadowing them, as an unnatural storm comes rushing in to stop the pair, but Gwen once again channels Guinevere through a vision of her wedding to Arthur, using the power to destroy the stone.
And then they're off to Tintagel, which contemporaries believe is the location of Camelot, but Arthur explains it was actually the home of the then-king, and with the help of her visions Gwen locates the last Calling Stone on the pommel of the sword the bronze statue of Arthur holds.
But they're followed.
The man who killed the initial missing person, the one who seduced his way through Morgana's Sisters to find information on Arthur, and a local MP, not to mention apparently a warlock, with connections to the coven AND a slight variation with an addition of a pair of antlers harkening back to Herne the Hunter God on his signet ring, is there to kill Arthur.
On orders.
Whose?
No time for that as Gwen distracts the MP while Arthur pulls the sword from the statue (this seems to be a talent of his, in all honesty, he's done it before with the suit of armour!), and the Grail appears to help destroy the Calling Stone and defeat the warlock.
But he's more terrified of whoever his boss is than of Arthur, so he steps off the edge of the cliff to his death.
This effectively closes the investigation of all the incidents happening in the book, but opens up a whole new can of worms, because WHO is the person who wants Arthur dead so badly that they've apparently built an entire coven just for that? If you pay attention while Arthur is talking about his past self, you'll be able to make an educated guess after reading the blurb for the fourth book.
And the fourth book is going to be equally if not more fantastic, because Arthur takes Gwen to a small cave with a hidden nook he and Guinevere used to leave each other messages, and he unearths the original wedding ring he gave his wife, which he gifts to Gwen this time as he proposes to her.
Naturally, she says yes.
And because Immi and Christian are ALSO engaged by this point, the two couples decide to have a joint wedding together at Wessex Castle.
Which turns out to be built on top of a place they'd much rather avoid if possible.
I mean, why would ANYTHING be easy, right???
The continuing story in A Knight to Remember is definitely one that you can't actually put down once you start on it, and I for one cannot WAIT for the fourth book, Her Wedding Knight. I'm so happy that Arthur and Gwen are getting married!
Plus, the whole mystery surrounding Morgana's Sisters is starting to slowly unravel, and I'm super interested to see in which direction the author takes them - we learn in this book that it's difficult to leave the coven once you're a member, and they're secretive enough to make you sign NDAs, not to mention they usually recruit when the girls are still in their early teens, so basically this has all the makings of a cult.
Let's see just how THAT turns out!
And in the meantime, Merlin has some explaining to do as well, because he knows more than what's going on, and I'm hopeful that there might be some more from his end in the fourth book.
I enjoy the fact that the supporting characters continue being a strong addition to Arthur and Gwen as they navigate their way through this relationship, and especially now that Gwen's magic is becoming stronger (she does a lot with Tarot cards in this one!), and is confident in the fact that she's Guinevere reincarnated, having felt the connection and shared some of her memories. It's lovely to read how she slowly opens herself up to Arthur and how patient Arthur is with her.
Honestly, they're turning into one of my favourite romance couples!
I've been so incredibly lucky to be able to read the ARCs of these books, and I'm so, so pleased to be able to bring you these reviews - I hope that at least some of you reading my blog posts go and pick them up. They're SO worth the read, I promise!
Dashing heroes, cute canines, magic and legends ... what more could you ever need?
10/10 recommend!
xx
*image not mine
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